Guest Post by Kristee Ravan

posted on August 14, 2014

Today, I have a guest post from author Kristee Ravan. Kristee wrote today's post as a part of her tour with Prism Book Tours for her novel, The Cinderella Theorem. Her book is a fairy-tale retelling with a fun spin on Cinderella. There's a giveaway too, so don't forget to check that out.

Fairy Tales You Aren't Reading — But Should (Part One) By Kristee Ravan

In my book, The Cinderella Theorem, a lot of the fairy tale world's usual subjects show up: Cinderella, the Gingerbread Man, Sleeping Beauty. But I also got to shed some light on some of the rarer tales around, like the Erlking.

I first came across the Erlking as a freshman in college in an Appreciation of the Arts course. We had a listening lab component to the class and had to listen to classical works of music each week. One of the assignments was to listen to a song by Franz Schubert called “The Erlking.” Schubert’s song is based on a poem by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. Goethe’s work is based on German folklore about the Erlking. Being who I am, I pulled out the liner notes while listening to the German song, so I could read the translation.

It was a dark and stormy night and a father is riding home on his horse with his young son. The dad notices his kid is hiding his face and acting scared, so he asks about it. The kid says, “Don’t you see the Erlking over there beside us?” And like any parent, the dad dismisses this as just the mist or the fog.

Then the Erlking speaks to the kid, trying to entice him, promising him games, flowers and golden garments. The kid, clearly schooled somewhat in German Romantic stranger danger tries to tell his dad that the Erlking is speaking to him. The dad says it’s just the wind.

The Erlking tries again, summoning his fair daughters to entice the lad, promising that they will take good care of him and rock him and sing him to sleep. Kid: “Hey Dad, I can see the Erlking’s daughters now. They’re so pretty.” Dad: “Oh, Son, it’s just yon willow trees.”

Now the Erlking is tired of subtlety and decides to employ force to take the boy. The boy cries out: “My father, my father, he seizes me fast, For sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last.” The poor boy now starts to convulse and moan. The Dad races home through the wind and rain, and when he arrives, he finds that his son is dead.

Um, creepy much? Maybe the Dad should have listened to the kid. I wonder how this would have ended if the mom was the one bringing the kid home.

Skye's Note: Kristee entitled this “Part One”. Visit the rest of the tour stops (links at the bottom of this post) to find the rest of this series.

The Cinderella Theorem

(The Lily Sparrow Chronicles #1)

Blurb

Fairy tales are naturally non-mathematical. That is a fact, and fifteen-year-old Lily Sparrow loves factual, mathematical logic. So when her mother confesses that Lily’s deceased father is (a) not dead, (b) coming to dinner, and (c) the ruler of a fairy tale kingdom accessible through the upstairs bathtub, Lily clings to her math to help her make sense of this new double life (1 life in the real world + 1 secret life in the fairy tale world = a double life).

Even though it's not mathematical, Lily finds herself being pulled into a mystery involving an unhappy Cinderella, a greasy sycophant called Levi, and a slew of vanishing fairy tale characters. Racing against the clock, with a sound mathematical plan, Lily attempts to save her fairy tale friends while proving that normality = happiness.

Buy The Cinderella Theorem

Calling for Reviewers

Kristee and Prism Book Tours are looking for reviewers for The Cinderella Theorem. They say: “You don't need a blog to sign up, but you do need to at least post a review on Amazon. Other sites (blog, Goodreads, etc.) are also appreciated. Reviews must be completed by the end of November. To sign up, please fill out this form.”

About Kristee Ravan

Kristee Ravan lives in Oklahoma with her husband, daughter, and pet fish, Val (short for Valentine). She wanted to be many things as she grew up including a general, an artist, and an architect. But she never bothered to say, “I want to be a writer when I grow up.” She was always writing stories and thought of herself as a writer anyway. She sent her first story to a publisher in the sixth grade. (It was rejected – in a nice way.) When she is not making up stories in her head, she enjoys reading, juggling, green smoothies, playing dollhouse with her daughter, and hearing from her fans. You can contact Kristee at the Facebook page for her Lily Sparrow books: The Lily Sparrow Chronicles.

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[…] Skye Malone’s Blog – Fairy Tales You Aren’t Reading — But Should (Part One)In my book, The Cinderella Theorem, a lot of the fairy tale world’s usual subjects show up: Cinderella, the Gingerbread Man, Sleeping Beauty. But I also got to shed some light on some of the rarer tales around, like the Erlking… […]